March 28, 2010

This project is starting to take shape. I’ve given the car a general clean up and swapped the 14″ ROH mags and front suspension out of my old tt140 Corona. (It had GX71 Cressida front struts and cobra springs fitted to it.)

The rear springs between an irs Cressida and Live axle tt140 are totally different. and the shocks I had in the Corona (Hilux shocks from memory, so a bit shorter than std Corona ones) are way too short.

Been doing a bit of measuring tho. I compared the shocks out of the back of Megan’s Suzuki Escudo. They’re a bit shorter then std Cressida ones and should work nicely. For the rear springs I’ve seen Falcon Futura rear springs used in Cressida’s. They’re a nice upgrade and are a bit stiffer than standard ones so I’ll source a pair of them for mine.

The front is where things will be a bit different. I’ve seen in the past AE86 race cars fitted with S13 coilovers and brakes in the front. So I did a bit of Google-ing and came up with this link.

www.toymods.org.au/forums/archive/index.php/t-18910.html

The site basically explains the swap into an AE86. The conversion uses a mix of MX63 / AE86 / S13 / etc parts. Seeing as the AE86 and Cressida are similar I reckon this should work. The guys complain that the s13 spring rates are too stiff. But in a heavier car like my Cressida should be ok. I’ll let you know in a few weeks.

This afternoon and into this evening I carried out a jap spec quad headlight conversion. In Japan a GX71 is called a Cresta or Chaser depending on the trim and engine fitted. Both models have much better looking headlights and grill, the sexiest of all being the quad square lights fitted to the Cresta.

The conversion has made the Cressida look much tougher in my opinion.

Already every small change and modification is starting to bring this Cressy alive! Any how keep watching this space.

Here’s a few pics of how she’s looking so far, I reckon the baby blue paint and powdercoated mags work well, needs a shitload of lowering tho……

13 Responses to “End Of March, Easter next w/end……”

Hi dude wicked cressida!! loving the light and grill conversion, want to do this to my mx73 but cant find the bits anywhere! Just wondering what you used to lower it? trying to find part numbers for springs all round or what car the springs came out of that you have used ? any help would be awesome , hanging to put my Konig b-bombs on it just cant bring myself to do it without lowering it first!

The lights aren’t actually Cresta ones, they are actually off a much more common (in NZ anyway) TT132 Corona. I had to trim the standard Cressida grill to and the light surrounds to make them fit. I’s still looking for a pair of Chaser guards to tidy up the front end.

sorry one last thing would the rear springs be ford falcon futura model BA? and do you know wat year model the suzuki shocks were from? just want to make sure I get the right stuff. /Dont mean to be a pain haha

My suspension setup would have lowered it maybe 1&1/2″ to 2″ from standard. I have decided it could be better so I’m going to go for the S13 Silvia coilover conversion in the front as described in the link on the blog. With the current setup the car still has a fair bit of bodyroll that I’d like to get rid of.

The Falcon springs and new shocks in the back did improve that a little. But the front really needs some stiffer springs.

Dunno which model as I’m not a V8 enthusiast. I could quote any Toyota chassis code to engine code to diff code etc that you ask me about….

I just went into Mag N Turbo and asked for a pair of King springs to suit a Falcon Futura Wagon. I took in a standard Cressida spring to measure and the guy asked his rep over the phone for the diameter of the new springs so as to ensure I got the right ones.

The rear shocks are to suit a 1994 Suzuki Escudo 5Door I think from memory the 3door had a different p/n for the rear shocks.

I simply went into Supercheap Auto and got the KYB parts book out and looked up the p/n of the Escudo and ST202 Celica shocks. One thing I wish I’d done is spent the bit extra and gotten the KYB AGX adjustable shocks to go in the back. As being able to tighten up the bump and rebound settings for the occasional drift/track day would be bennificial.